


Another Little Secret

by lunaseemoony



Category: Broadchurch, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Romance, Teninch Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-10 06:25:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4380686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaseemoony/pseuds/lunaseemoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rose finally becomes too stir crazy and frustrated with Alec’s work and life getting in the way of their relationship she accidentally exposes them to the public at large.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Little Secret

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet is for headbandsandflats's prompt

 

Rose buried her mobile in her purse among a pile of other useless pieces of junk. A dozen unreturned messages told her to give up on her pursuit. She was being ignored, her gut told her. She would have liked to say that he didn’t mean it. The fact that it wouldn’t have been the truth is what saw her slamming her hotel room door and flying out of the inn. She understood that this was how he worked murder cases: long hours of hunting for pieces to a puzzle that had been blown to smithereens. She would consider herself lucky if he even thought to pick up his mobile during these times, let alone actually look at it. And when he did, it would be to verify that she was still alive, not to answer her calls. Still, she held a small hope that this day might be different. He’d promised her breakfast, a quiet affair, just the two of them in his home before the trial recommenced that morning.

Following Danny’s case Alec promised Rose that his move to Broadchurch wasn’t permanent, and that if she came down to visit him from London when she could that he would make time for her. She’d believed him even though getting him to make such a promise involved using every bit of puppy-eyed charm she had in her arsenal. At the time they’d only been dating for a couple months. As it turned out, Rose severely miscalculated just how much she would miss her tenderhearted curmudgeon.

She sprung her moving down to Broadchurch on Alec. He’d have told her not to come if she warned him in advance. And sure enough, once she surprised him at his chalet he was furious and threatened to send her back to London because it hadn’t been what they planned. What  _he_  planned. As always it turned out to be a thinly veiled threat. He’d missed her just as much, even though he was still shy about showing her. Shy was the nice word that Rose held when she thought of his affections for her. It was a lot easier than reminding herself of all the reasons making prying open Alec’s clam shell difficult. He’d wanted a fresh start in Broadchurch free of drama (otherwise known as a girlfriend). But when Rose got him to open up just enough he also admitted that he needed her to stay nearby to keep him alive and sane. He wasn’t ready to talk about how he felt at all, but it was acceptable… that is until he told her their relationship had to be a secret.

She wasn’t picky at first. She’d accepted a few minutes to chat, coffee one morning, and a bit of a cuddle that she had to almost bribe him into. The secret wasn’t what Rose had a problem with. After having him to herself before the start of the trial, Rose found herself going through Alec withdrawal. And it was eating away at her patience until all that remained was a short fuse ready to blow, all for the lack of quality time with her boyfriend (if she could call someone she only saw for ten minutes a day by that title). She had entirely too much time on her hands to think about how their relationship was blossoming before Alec moved and became consumed in closing the Sandbrook case.

Even after two weeks shut in at the Traders waiting to have just a few minutes with Alec, the idea of complaining about his trial and murder case requiring Rose keep a distance from him still didn’t seem right. His work was important. Rose held a great deal of pride close to her chest knowing someone she loved made his living catching murderers. She twisted herself up into a hurricane and flew down the street to her car to drive to the courthouse. She tried to be understanding, really she did. Rose was so proud of Alec, so much more than he was comfortable with or felt he deserved. Closing her eyes and thinking about it rekindled a warmth in her chest she’d thought long since gone after Mickey.

Of course part of what saw Rose storming through Broadchurch was how much missing him was overwhelming her patience. She had a job where mindless work wasn’t enough to keep her from thinking about him. Rose never held any illusions about their relationship. Alec was hell bent on keeping Rose at bay because he was terrified of his heart surgery, to a fault, as much as he tried to hide it from her. He cared about his reputation just enough to hopefully safely see him through Danny’s trial. He tried at every turn to convince her that he was wrong for her. Yet he needed her, even if he was shy about admitting it. He never believed her when she told him she felt the same way, even when she wriggled into his arms and told him she never felt safer with him. She’d even taken slight advantage of his need to keep people safe, and he couldn’t bring himself to believe her. In the end did it really matter when she found herself falling for him so early on into their relationship?

Realizing that she loved Alec while enraged with him was what moved her stomping feet out of her car and into the bustling courthouse. He had to know at least. He had to know that she would lie awake at night thinking about the blessed day they met when she saw a glimmer of light in his dark eyes. Rose didn’t care if the entire town heard her shouting through the shallow rafters of his little boathouse. She wasn’t sitting in a restaurant alone waiting and hoping for him to arrive. She certainly wasn’t cuddling with herself, not when a warm heart, scruffy beard and soft kisses could be hers for the taking right down the street. Her heart couldn’t wait for his to be mended to share with him how she felt. It was a ridiculous idea, and he knew it.

Rose’s adrenaline kept her feet going, pulling at her muscles and straining her lungs. Alec was with the Latimers, and by all appearances he was trying to calm them down. A little pinch at the back of her mind told her to stop and wait, maybe even turn back around. On any other day she would have called it her better judgment. Today it was only a little hurdle that she jumped right over.

And then she spotted him, sitting on a long bench with the Latimer family. If Rose had to guess she’d say he was consoling them, in his own way that allowed him to retain his personal shield. He leaned in just a little, speaking on warm breaths and sighs. It was just enough to distract them from his tensed up shoulders and tightened posture. Whatever he was consoling them with, he was being wholly honest. Rose made an effort to steer clear of the trial, but she did know Alec’s case was skating on thin ice. And for it he was an anxious pile of wrinkled skin and weary bones, bless his heart.

Rose brought her hands to her face and began to take a few steps back. Oh, she was still furious with him, make no mistake. And she should have been even more so seeing him work himself to the bone. But it was a reminder of why her heart yearned for him in the first place. He gave so much, too much. He pushed himself half to death to prove his own worth - but for who? These people that would forget all about him once the trial ended and they got what they wanted out of him? They weren’t worth it, he had to know that. But he’d made them a promise, and Rose knew well enough that he intended to keep it. It all made it that much harder to be angry with him. She didn’t want to forgive him for their missed date. But -

“Rose.”

She jumped. He stood before her with that warning look furrowing his brow. She both adored and hated it. “I was just leaving,” she spoke through her hand.

She was a bit cross with  _herself_  for letting him get to her, when she had her whole speech planned all on the way to the courthouse. Now he was standing there, towering over her while simultaneously telling her off with his hooded eyes and demanding to know why she was here.

He grabbed her hand and held it. “You’re here now. I’ve got two minutes before we recommence. What’s wrong?”

Rose peered around him to find they had an audience of at least a dozen people. One she recognized as his former partner Ellie Miller. Nothing could get past her, Rose guessed just going by the wickedly gleeful grin slowly overtaking her expression.

“It can wait. It’s not important,” Rose muttered as his hand closed around hers tightly.

“Liar. You came all the way down here, just to tell me nothing?”

“Well no, but it can wait  _now_. You’re busy.”

He growled at her and dug his nails into her skin. “Rose, out with it. I don’t have time for this! What is it?”

Rose sucked in a huge breath and scowled as she shouted, “Well, you missed our date and you won’t answer my texts and I miss  _you_ , and for fuck’s sake Alec I love you, you pillock!”

He would be the man to pause and freeze, but more for utter confusion than anything else. And he’d be the only one to freeze. It didn’t take long for their audience to break into cheers, whispers, gasps, scowls and laughs. But Ellie was the first one to speak, even before the one person she cared about most could react.

“I knew it!” Ellie shouted into the rafters, completely disregarding the somber attitude the courthouse had been oppressing them with. She approached Rose and grabbed her arm. Forget shaking hands, Rose thought. “I knew there was a bit of pep in your step, mister doom and gloom! How long have you been hiding this one?”

“That’s not.. it’s not any of your business!” Alec sputtered.

Ellie approached Rose and bumped her elbow with a little wink. “He’s upset that we caught him being happy, isn’t he?”

Rose blushed and looked to Alec to save her, but he was too busy looking all around them for an escape. But only then did she realize she’d put them in the worst position, as the day’s session was about to begin. All eyes were trained on the pair of them as Alec dragged Rose up the long set of stairs to the court room. Even during witness testimony Rose felt as though she was surrounded, being hunted down. Of course Alec ignored every one of them. They dashed out of the court room when they adjourned for the day, and Rose swore she heard laughter at their backs. But while it had her tensing up and turning red, he couldn’t be bothered by it.

“You’re an impossible woman, you know that?” Alec chided while leaning up against her car.

Her heart had been steadily picking up its pace, but then began to race as if the finish line was right past the words she anticipated and hoped to hear.

“You’re an impossible man,” Rose fought back in a bleat.

He took her hand and shook his head while threading his fingers through hers.

“Don’t you have anything to say?” Rose prompted anxiously when he didn’t immediately speak. She looked into his calm eyes and felt as though he was holding her relief over her head. None of it fazed him, at least not on the outside.

“What do you want to hear?”

She took his other hand to calm herself, but his peaceful warmth flowing into her palm only made her more nervous. She could close her eyes and imagine herself swimming into his arms, into safety where the rest of the world couldn’t touch them. Rose had exposed them both, making their efforts (well, his efforts) to be a secret null and void. Only then, as Rose collected the sarcastic and judging smiles did she long for that time when nobody knew. She let his hands go and wrapped her arms around his waist. Steady breaths and a slow song of heartbeats flowed into her ears and wrapped her up in comfort.

“We’re out now,” he whispered into her hair while bracing them against her car, rocking a bit under their weight. In a parking lot after shouting down a courthouse wasn’t where she wanted to have this discussion. But at least she had him, and letting go wasn’t on the list of options as far as she was concerned. “I’ll make time for you, okay? Just don’t… don’t leave me Rose.”

He stole the breath from her lungs with so few words. She needed a moment just to gather herself before she smacked his chest. “I’m not leaving you. If anything I want to  _stay_ ,” she soothed with a shaking hand on his chest.

“I’m not ready to say… it’s a bit soon, Rose. But you know how important you are to me, don’t you?”

Rose kissed a button on his shirt and sighed against his chest. She should have been upset. But her heart must have known what it was getting into when it fell for Alec and his grumpy, gruff exterior. All she could do was love him for who he was. She could try to change him, but she’d be changing the loveable grump she’d fallen for. For all she knew, he just needed time.

“Of course I know,” she murmured into his jacket while his hands wrapped tight around her back. She paused to breathe a sigh before kissing his scruff. “Not everything has to be a secret, you know.”

He puffed a smile onto her temple before returning her kiss there, breathing all the warmth and comfort onto her skin that he couldn’t yet with words. “One less couldn’t hurt, I suppose.”


End file.
